GM Volt test drive tour starts Oct 9th

[EVDRIVER]

Thanks for posting both of them. They seem s bit busy for automotive displays, but that is a matter of personal taste.

Yes - very busy. Have Space Will Show school of deisgn.

LIke the Fisher Price School

 

[sparky]

...the entire dash is overdone and looks like it was inspired by the Grand Canyon where a river carved through to make the lines.

My thoughts exactly. I saw a Volt for the first time yesterday and while I really do hope it sells, I couldn't get past the hacked up console with lines running every direction as if their CNC machine had a computer virus.

Anyone notice that PW at Aptera completely copied the dash design of the volt from the ugly double-hump dash pods (EVA) to the ipod white center consul. Not to mention the over weight attributes the volt has with it's bulky parts and added dash accents.

Also, spot on. It's like a security blanket for Detroit guys... must add 5 knobs for every $1k over the price target.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I agree the display is very busy but I can get used to it. What u don't see is the standard control panel. There was literally a few dozen knobs and I did not get a chance to study them closely.

What surprised me about the whole thing What's not having a car stationary That we could inspect at our leisure. The only head cars we could test drive And I did get a few chances 4 closer look but Only for a few minutes at a time.

 

[evnow]

What surprised me about the whole thing What's not having a car stationary That we could inspect at our leisure. The only head cars we could test drive And I did get a few chances 4 closer look but Only for a few minutes at a time.

Yes, that was a bummer. I was hoping for a stationary Volt too ...

 

[SanDust]

So the Volt is more like a big Prius than it is like a Leaf pulling a gasoline generator behind on a trailer. This explains why it is a much better car than expected, and also why it is so much more expensive than expected. I wonder how they were able to work around Toyota's patents on Hybrid Synergy, or whether they just intend to defend based on a hoard of other unrelated patents from which to make counter claims.

FWIW Toyota has actually argued that its patents are more or less identical to the old Berman/TRW patents, the only difference being the addition of a microprocessor to select the modes. Not exactly a lot of originality. How weak its patents are was probably brought home by the Ford experience. After suing Ford, Toyota waived the white flag when Ford claimed primacy on the HSD patents, agreeing to cross license its patent portfolio related to the HSD. Hard to imagine GM worrying about Toyota on this score.

The Volt setup is vastly superior to the Prius' if you want an EV. The primary reason the plug-in Prius is such a crippled EV is that both the wheels and the large traction motor are connected to the ring gear. This means that the main traction motor has no mechanical advantage and the engine, which is linked to the planetary carrier, has to help power the vehicle during accelerations and at high speeds. Moreover, even if the motor was seriously upsized and made large enough to power the car, the fact that the small motor/generator is connected to the sun gear would still mean the engine would have to kick on to prevent the small motor/generator from turning too fast. The Volt addresses both problems by having the small motor/generator link to the ring gear, the large motor/generator to the sun gear, and the wheels to the planetary carrier. (The engine never links directly to anything).

FWIW at highway (freeway not EPA highway) speeds this gearing increases the range by roughly the same amount as reducing the weight by 400 - 800 pounds. (Not as impressive as it sounds since weight doesn't matter that much at high speeds but it doesn't hurt).

 

[evnow]

I finally posted my test drive report.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/blog.php?u=235&b=7

Yes, my first mynissanleaf blog :roll:

 

[sparky]

Thanks for the blog post evnow, I think I pretty much concur with your sentiments on the Volt.
I did the Volt test drive in Los Angeles today. They had two test drive vehicles and two parked Volts, with different interiors, that we could crawl in and out of.

A few things I noticed when I compare the Volt drive to the LEAF, which I've driven twice:
The LEAF seemed a lot quieter. I was in CD mode the whole time but I picked up much more road noise with the Volt. It wasn't noisy by any means but the LEAF had a "cone of silence" sense to it.

The LEAFs acceleration off the line, up to about 30 mph seemed much quicker.

The Volt steering felt well balanced, upscale, compared to the pinky-finger light LEAF steering.

Regen braking on the LEAF seemed more refined to me. I could really tell when regen kicked in with my test vehicle but not with the LEAF, totally seamless.

The Volt's interior materials seem much more rugged. Even the cloth upholstery seemed nicer and far more sturdy than the LEAF.

The dash has much too much going on; from the terraced dash to the goofy console with side access ports behind the shifter. The display is too busy.

The Volt seemed noticeably more solid to me. But I'm not looking for that. I really don't want to drive an overweight car.

Lotta stuff under the hood... I'm not gonna miss the care and feeding of an ICE. Sooo glad Nissan went straight BEV.

Overall, I love this car at $35k MSRP, not at $41k. I'm still glad to be getting a LEAF. But, I will keep an eye out for a good deal on a used Volt to replace an ICE vehicle in the future.

 

[evnow]

The Volt steering felt well balanced, upscale, compared to the pinky-finger light LEAF steering.

I think this the Nissan "house" effect in their non-sports models.

Regen braking on the LEAF seemed more refined to me. I could really tell when regen kicked in with my test vehicle but not with the LEAF, totally seamless.

Interesting. This is something I didn't mention - the braking in Volt seemed less assured.

Overall, I love this car at $35k MSRP, not at $41k. I'm still glad to be getting a LEAF. But, I will keep an eye out for a good deal on a used Volt to replace an ICE vehicle in the future.

This is one thing I'm not sure about. We just don't know about the longevity of a 1st gen Volt - with all its complications. My previous experience with Chevy hasn't been kind - so that sort of carries over. I wouldn't touch a used Volt.

 

[palmermd]

Isn't "Unplugged" as strange name for a plug-in vehicle ?

Not if it runs on gas.

 

[Azat]

I drove LEAF on 10/02/10 and 10/03/10, also Volt on 10/16/10 in Los Angeles. Interior and exterior of Volt was better, but driving experience on LEAF was awesome. As my daughter said, driving LEAF was like “driving in HAVEN’, quit, smooth, excellent acceleration up to 35 mph. Volt had very bad acceleration, even in power mode, when pressed hard on accelerator, you hear engine’s roaring noise. It was terrible driving experience compared to LEAF. Sorry Volt lovers. I know this will hearth, but that was my and my family members impression. Also, at 12pm when GM Volt test drive started next to LA Fashion show, almost nobody was there. Nissan organized test drive as professionals and GM as street gang bangers.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

GM had a chance to "one up" Toyota and blew it when they downsized the Volt. i think that is the biggest reason they provided the great lease price since lowering the price was not an option. hopefully that will keep the Volt going long enough for GM to push out a bigger design. a mid to medium large car would sell. a compact at $41,000? umm ya right

 

[sparky]

...

Regen braking on the LEAF seemed more refined to me. I could really tell when regen kicked in with my test vehicle but not with the LEAF, totally seamless.

Interesting. This is something I didn't mention - the braking in Volt seemed less assured.
...

That's actually a better description than mine. The Volt braking was nothing for the first part of pedal travel and then the clamps suddenly came on. I found myself trying to guess what the brake pedal was thinking whenever I came to a stop. Presumably they can fix this in software.

 

[Azat]

I drove LEAF on 10/02/10 and 10/03/10, also Volt on 10/16/10 in Los Angeles. Interior and exterior of Volt was better, but driving experience on LEAF was awesome. As my daughter said, driving LEAF was like “driving in HAVEN’, quit, smooth, excellent acceleration up to 35 mph. Volt had very bad acceleration, even in power mode, when pressed hard on accelerator, you hear engine’s roaring noise. It was terrible driving experience compared to LEAF. Sorry Volt lovers. I know this will hearth, but that was my and my family members impression. Also, at 12pm when GM Volt test drive started next to LA Fashion show, almost nobody was there. Nissan organized test drive as professionals and GM as street gang bangers.

Here is another proof that Leaf beats Volt badly, in acceleration and speed:
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/10/22/unofficial-nissan-leaf-does-0-60-mph-in-7-seconds-tops-out-at/

 

[planet4ever]

Here is another proof that Leaf beats Volt badly, in acceleration and speed:
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/10/22/unofficial-nissan-leaf-does-0-60-mph-in-7-seconds-tops-out-at/

Huh? How do you reach that conclusion from the article? Unofficial 0-60 measurements leave quite a margin of uncertainty. Courses exactly level? Wind speed and direction? Weight of the driver? I would say the LEAF appears to beat the Volt marginally in a 0-60 test, but not badly. As far a speed goes, it seems fairly clear that the Volt beats the LEAF ... again marginally. There is no evidence that a LEAF can go faster than a Volt, not even marginally, let alone beat it badly.

 

[Azat]

Here is another proof that Leaf beats Volt badly, in acceleration and speed:
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/10/22/unofficial-nissan-leaf-does-0-60-mph-in-7-seconds-tops-out-at/

Huh? How do you reach that conclusion from the article? Unofficial 0-60 measurements leave quite a margin of uncertainty. Courses exactly level? Wind speed and direction? Weight of the driver? I would say the LEAF appears to beat the Volt marginally in a 0-60 test, but not badly. As far a speed goes, it seems fairly clear that the Volt beats the LEAF ... again marginally. There is no evidence that a LEAF can go faster than a Volt, not even marginally, let alone beat it badly.

I guess you didn't drive both cars. If you drove, then you would understood what I'm talking about.

 

[planet4ever]

I guess you didn't drive both cars. If you drove, then you would understood what I'm talking about.

I haven't driven either car yet. If your intent was to report your own subjective impressions from driving both, then that is useful information if you state it as such. My objection was to the "proof" that you claimed was in the article you cited.

 

[Azat]

I guess you didn't drive both cars. If you drove, then you would understood what I'm talking about.

I haven't driven either car yet. If your intent was to report your own subjective impressions from driving both, then that is useful information if you state it as such. My objection was to the "proof" that you claimed was in the article you cited.

Hi planet4ever
I drove Leaf 2 times in Santa Monica (10.01.10 and 10.02.10), Just came back from driving Leaf for 3-rd time in Los Angeles and after driving Volt last week, now I defiantly can reaffirm my personal filling about Leaf’s and Volt’s driving experience. Driving the Leaf is AWESOME. I hope you’ll drive your Leaf very soon and you’ll remember what I mentioned in this forum.
BTW I’m going to order my Leaf the same way as you: " Blue SV, with no options. Plan to use L1 charging only". At list on this one we're in same page.LOL